21.2.11

Mama! Do you see that? I think it's The Mist! I knew I could see it! It's because I have ADHD*, you know.

Hey, mom! That's just like Poseidon's cabin! That might be the Big House! I'm pretty sure this is Camp Half-Blood, don't you think?

Okay, mom. I took a test and it says I'm related to Ares, Poseidon, and Athena. I think Athena must be my mom because I want to be an architect when I grow up. I won't call you stepmom, though, so don't worry.

Man, I hope no monsters get me while I'm cleaning the yard. Now that I know I'm a demigod, they're going to know, too, and they might come after me. I'll carry a stick just in case I need to fight.

These, my friends, were the only sounds coming out of my son's mouth this weekend, thanks to Javi nearing the home stretch in finishing up Rick Riordan's captivating Percy Jackson series (which I loved, too). The air was hazy leaving the grocery store this morning, so we must've been in The Mist that obscures mortals' view of the battles fought by heroes, monsters, and immortals.

A pile of large clay stones towering above our local greenway became Zeus' Fist, a mound of stones that happens to be an entrance to the Labyrinth. The greenway itself was transformed into a magical world of gods and demigods and Titans that was as real to Javi as the asphalt under his feet and the dead kudzu and exposed clay covering much of our town.

One would think that experiencing your child completely enmeshed in a fictional world of satyrs, centaurs, minotaurs, draconae, and manticores would be fun. And it is fun, for the first day -- and then it becomes slightly absurd. Imagination is a good thing; belief that the gods are real and that a monstrous enemy could come for you in the night (resulting in high anxiety and pacing) is not.

Of course, I'm already buying Javi the first book in the next Riordan series, Heroes of Olympus, so we'll be going Greek for at least another month. After that, I'm really itching to try on the mythology the always fascinated me most -- Egyptian. (Which means I'm truly just an enabler at heart, though I do miss the breezy days when Javi just assumed he was the next international spy and the ol' wimpy kid did a piss-poor job of preparing me for this level of obsession.)

In the meantime, let's hope Javi doesn't attack any innocents and that he's able to sleep better as his visceral reaction to Percy's world subsides. To borrow one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies, "it's okay to love your [books], just don't love your [books so much you forget they're books and not instruction manuals]."

Or something like that. What's your kiddo in love with these days?

*I know ADHD doesn't own this level of over-active imagination, but my kid -- who's already prone to living in his own bubble -- has created some pretty elaborate scenarios in the past few days. I love this creative (but also slightly annoying) side of the disorder.

We have the Chronicles of Narnia going on here. She's flying through the books because she REALLY wants to read the last one. LOL. We have the opposite problem here though. I wish she had MORE imagination.

@Dee - We haven't gotten into CofN, but it's on my agenda for him this summer. We have a large, decorative tomb that contains all the different books. That's a little unwieldy, which I think is part of the problem.

@Ayala - We bought the book at 3pm on Saturday. I finished it at 11pm that night with breaks for making dinner, running errands for my nephew, and general mom duties. It was a quick, delicious read!

Percy Jackson gave us the subject for Angus's speech at school last year and our family Halloween costumes. We're going slowly because those are the books I read out loud with him. He also frequently rereads the Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Bone books. We've had a four-day week-end and I think my daughter has read three 200-pagers -- every time I turn around she's in her pajamas tucked in bed reading. She's so my kid.

I remember my nieces were SO into Harry Potter that when my daughter was their summer babysitter, they would make her call them by character names and play Harry Potter activities all day long. She thought she'd never make it through that summer!

This is so important developmentally for him! I'm so glad he's totally into the imagniative world ... it's the sign of a brilliant mind, you know.Lately, G. has been obssessed with firefighters, Larry the Cucumber from Veggie Tales and pirates. Sometimes all three at the same time leaves my head spinning like Javi leaves yours. :)

i love that Javi is completely in love with reading. I'm hoping to instill that in my own daughter. She is learning how to read and its fun when she recognizes words when we are out and about, especially when I am not expecting her to know them.